Open Source C++ Emulators
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C++ Emulators
View 1982 business solutionsBrowse free open source C++ Emulators and projects below. Use the toggles on the left to filter open source C++ Emulators by OS, license, language, programming language, and project status.
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Null-modem emulator
The virtual serial port driver for Windows.
The Null-modem emulator (com0com) is a kernel-mode virtual serial port driver for Windows. You can create an unlimited number of virtual COM port pairs and use any pair to connect one COM port based application to another. The HUB for communications (hub4com) allows to receive data and signals from one COM or TCP port, modify and send it to a number of other COM or TCP ports and vice versa. -
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Bochs is a portable x86 PC emulation software package that emulates enough of the x86 CPU, related AT hardware, and BIOS to run Windows, Linux, *BSD, Minix, and other OS's, all on your workstation.
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Citra
A Nintendo 3DS Emulator
Citra is an experimental open-source Nintendo 3DS emulator/debugger written in C++. It is written with portability in mind, with builds actively maintained for Windows, Linux and macOS. Citra emulates a subset of 3DS hardware and therefore is useful for running/debugging homebrew applications, and it is also able to run many commercial games! Some of these do not run at a playable state, but we are working every day to advance the project forward. (Playable here means compatibility of at least "Okay" on our game compatibility list.) Citra is licensed under the GPLv2 (or any later version). Refer to the license.txt file included. Please read the FAQ before getting started with the project. If you want to contribute please take a look at the Contributor's Guide and Developer Information. You should also contact any of the developers in the forum in order to know about the current state of the emulator because the TODO list isn't maintained anymore. -
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A portable and cycle-accurate NES/Famicom emulator written in C++
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DeSmuME
DeSmuME is a Nintendo DS emulator
DeSmuME is the most seasoned open source Nintendo DS emulator. It sports tools designed for hackers, speedrunners, youtubers, and casual gamers. Homebrew programs are supported and can even be debugged through GDB. The Windows and OSX versions are both relatively feature rich, and there is a small universe of forks and mods that add even more features for casual gaming. DeSmuME is the origin of RetroArch and OpenEmu Nintendo DS support and is used by several mobile Nintendo DS emulators, with the notable exception of DraStic. DeSmuME's source code is now hosted at https://github.com/TASVideos/desmume/ win32 autobuilds @ https://ci.appveyor.com/project/zeromus/desmume/build/artifacts -
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shadPS4
PS4 emulator for Windows,Linux,MacOS
shadPS4 is an early PlayStation 4 emulator for Windows, Linux, and macOS written in C++. If you encounter problems or have doubts, do not hesitate to look at the Quickstart. To verify that a game works, you can look at shadPS4 Game Compatibility. To discuss shadPS4 development or suggest ideas, join the Discord server. To get the latest news, go to our X (twitter) or our website. -
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RPCS3
PlayStation 3 emulator and debugger
RPCS3 is an open-source PlayStation 3 emulator and debugger, allowing users to run PS3 games and software on Windows, Linux, and macOS platforms. It aims to preserve the legacy of the PlayStation 3 by enabling gameplay and software testing beyond the original hardware's lifespan. The project has made significant progress in compatibility and performance, supporting a wide range of PS3 titles. -
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PPSSPP
A cross-platform PSP emulator
PPSSPP is an open source, cross-platform PSP emulator which allows you to play your PSP games on Android, Windows, Mac or Linux. With PPSSPP you can play your PSP games on your PC in full HD resolution, or play on your tablet for a big-screen mobile gaming experience. PPSSPP enhances the gaming experience in more ways than one. It even upscales some textures that would otherwise be too blurry due to the fact that they were originally made for the small screen. Even on modern Android phones and tablets you can enjoy double the original resolution. Get a whole new and better PSP gaming experience with PPSSPP now! -
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Xenia Canary
Xbox 360 Emulator Research Project
Xenia Canary is an experimental fork of the Xenia Xbox 360 emulator that moves faster than the mainline project to trial bleeding-edge improvements. It focuses on game compatibility and performance by iterating quickly on GPU and CPU emulation paths, shader translation, and timing correctness. Canary builds are where risky optimizations, new backends, and rewrites land first so they can be tested by a wider community before stabilizing. The project emphasizes pragmatism: make more titles boot and run with fewer glitches, even if it means carrying experiments that later get refined or rolled back. It also prioritizes developer ergonomics with logging options, debug overlays, and issue templates that help narrow down regressions. While aimed at enthusiasts and testers, it remains a valuable way for end users to play otherwise inaccessible 360 titles on PC when the mainline is lagging behind those fixes. -
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ipasim
iOS emulator for Windows
ipasim (IPA Simulator) is a Windows-based iOS simulator designed to run IPA files directly on Windows without an actual iOS device. It helps developers and testers run iOS apps in a simulated environment. -
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PCSX2
The Playstation 2 emulator
PCSX2 is a free and open-source PlayStation 2 (PS2) emulator. Its purpose is to emulate the PS2's hardware, using a combination of MIPS CPU Interpreters, Recompilers and a Virtual Machine that manages hardware states and PS2 system memory. This allows you to play PS2 games on your PC, with many additional features and benefits. The PCSX2 project has been running for more than ten years. Past versions could only run a few public domain game demos, but newer versions can run most games at full speed, including popular titles such as Final Fantasy X and Devil May Cry 3. Visit the PCSX2 compatibility list to check the latest compatibility status of games (with more than 2500 titles tested), or ask for help in the official forums. The latest officially released stable version is version 1.6.0. Installers and binaries for both Windows and Linux are available from our website. -
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Strato
Run Nintendo Switch homebrew & games on your Android device
Strato is an experimental Nintendo Switch emulator designed specifically for ARMv8 Android devices, aiming to bring Switch gaming and homebrew applications to mobile platforms. It builds upon earlier emulator efforts such as Skyline while incorporating improvements and optimizations tailored for mobile hardware constraints. The emulator focuses heavily on high-level emulation of Switch subsystems, including kernel services and GPU behavior, to achieve usable performance on smartphones. It leverages components inspired by established projects like Ryujinx and Yuzu, particularly in areas such as shader compilation and system emulation. Strato emphasizes accessibility by targeting Android devices directly, removing the need for desktop-class hardware for Switch emulation. Despite being experimental, it represents a significant step toward portable, on-device emulation of modern consoles. -
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VisualBoyAdvance
An emulator for Gameboy and GameboyAdvance systems
An emulator for Gameboy and GameboyAdvance systems. -
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Citron Neo
Research software designed to orchestrate virtual environments
Citron Neo is an advanced emulator project focused on replicating complex system environments with high performance and flexibility. It is designed to emulate modern console behavior while integrating improvements in CPU emulation, GPU rendering, and memory management. The project incorporates optimizations such as dynamic recompilation and Vulkan-based rendering to enhance performance across supported platforms. It also includes continuous updates that improve compatibility with games and system firmware, reflecting an active development cycle. Citron aims to provide a refined user experience through UI enhancements, faster loading times, and better resource handling. It supports multiple operating systems, including desktop and mobile environments, making it accessible across different devices. Overall, it represents a modern approach to emulation with a focus on speed, compatibility, and extensibility. -
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Eden Emulator
Free and opensource (FOSS) Switch 1 emulator
Eden Emulator is an experimental open-source emulator designed to replicate Nintendo Switch hardware with a focus on stability and performance improvements. It builds on modern emulation techniques to deliver smoother gameplay and better compatibility with newer titles. The project emphasizes frequent updates that reduce graphical glitches, improve rendering pipelines, and enhance overall system stability. Eden supports multiple platforms, including desktop and mobile environments, expanding accessibility for users. It also introduces features such as overlay systems and improved user interaction layers that mimic real hardware behavior. The development approach prioritizes incremental improvements, ensuring consistent progress in performance and compatibility. Overall, Eden serves as a next-generation emulator aiming to balance accuracy with usability. -
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Dolphin
Dolphin is a GameCube / Wii emulator
Dolphin is a mature, open-source video game console emulator that enables users to run Nintendo GameCube and Wii games on modern platforms including Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android devices. Originally released in 2003, it has evolved into one of the most advanced and widely used emulators, known for its high compatibility and continuous development over decades. The project is written primarily in C++ and focuses on accurately replicating console hardware behavior, including CPU timing, graphics rendering, and input handling, allowing games to run as close to original hardware as possible. Beyond simple emulation, Dolphin enhances the gaming experience by enabling higher resolutions, improved textures, and performance optimizations that surpass the limitations of the original consoles. It supports a wide range of input devices, including keyboards, gamepads, and real GameCube or Wii controllers through adapters and Bluetooth connectivity. -
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emuiibo
Virtual amiibo (amiibo emulation) system for Nintendo Switch
Virtual amiibo (amiibo emulation) system for Nintendo Switch. A virtual amiibo is detected by emuiibo based on two aspects: a amiibo.json and a amiibo.flag file must exist inside the virtual amiibo's folder mentioned above. If (for whatever reason) you would like to disable a virtual amiibo from being recognised by emuiibo, just remove the flag file, and create it again to enable it. While old emuiibo formats are supported and converted to the current format (see above), it is strongly suggested to, unless bin dumps might be indispensable, emuiigen be used, our PC utility designed to create and edit virtual amiibos. -
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KernelEx is an Open Source compatibility layer with an aim to allow running Windows 2000/XP-only applications on Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows Millennium operating systems.
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Cemu Wii U emulator
Cemu is a Wii U emulator
Software to emulate Wii U games and applications on PC. Currently, the DRC (GamePad), Pro Controller, and Classic Controller is emulated. Wiimotes are emulated as well (including native support). Keyboard input + USB controllers as input devices are supported. GamePad touch input can be controlled via a left mouse click. Gyro functionality is emulated with limitations and can be controlled via the right mouse button. Cemu is currently only available for 64-bit Windows and Linux devices. The native Linux build is currently a work-in-progress. See Current State Of Linux builds for more information about the things to be aware of. You can download the latest Cemu releases from the GitHub Releases or from Cemu's website. Cemu is currently only available in a portable format so no installation is required besides extracting it in a safe place. -
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OpenAuto
AndroidAuto headunit emulator
OpenAuto is an AndroidAuto(tm) headunit emulator based on aasdk library and Qt libraries. Main goal is to run this application on the RaspberryPI 3 board computer smoothly. The OpenAuto Pro is the most advanced Raspberry Pi-based, custom head-unit solution ready to retrofit your vehicle. The main functionality of the OpenAuto Pro software is to bring Users access to modern head-unit features like Bluetooth Hands-Free Profile, music streaming, integrated media player, navigation via Android Auto, screen mirroring, rear camera support, and many more interesting options and possibilities. Moreover, OpenAuto Pro runs under regular Raspberry PI OS (Buster), therefore You can use all accessories and software dedicated to Raspberry Pi. OpenAuto Pro version provides features like brightness control, volume control, support of Kodi and integration with the Raspberry PI OS (Raspbian Desktop). -
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Denise
C64/Amiga emulator with shader and runAhead
Denise is a cycle accurate and platform independant C64 / Amiga 500/1000 emulator. My motivation for this project is understanding how it works and write clean and easy readable code. RetroArch SLANG shaders are supported by Denise. Features already known from the C64 emulation, such as runAhead, savestates, drive sounds, PAL encoding, dynamic rate control, G-Sync/FreeSync, Warp, just in time polling are also available for the Amiga. Denise supports SuperCPU, Final Chesscard, REU, GeoRam, EasyFlash, EasyFlash³, Gmod2, Retro Replay, Action Replay, Final Cartridge, Light Guns/Pens, GunStick, Mouse 1351, Mouse Neos, Paddles, fast loaders such as ProfDOS, PrologicDOS, DolphinDOS, ProSpeed 1571, Turbo Trans, 1571, 1581, drag'n'drop and command line support. GIT repo: https://bitbucket.org/piciji/denise/src/master -
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MAME
A multi-purpose emulation framework
On December 24th, 1996, Nicola Salmoria began working on his single hardware emulators, which he merged into one program during January 1997. He named the accomplishment by the name of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, or MAME for short. -
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Xenia
Xbox 360 Emulator Research Project
Xenia is an open-source experimental emulator for the Xbox 360 that aims to let users run Xbox 360 games on Windows and other platforms by reverse-engineering the console’s hardware and firmware behavior in software. It implements the 360’s CPU (Xenon), GPU (including Direct3D shader logic), and system libraries to translate Xbox instructions into equivalent host machine operations, enabling many titles to launch and in some cases play at improved frame rates compared with the original hardware. Because Xbox 360 games use custom hardware features and proprietary APIs, Xenia developers have progressively mapped and translated these into PC-friendly code while balancing performance and accuracy, and the project includes compatibility tracking so users can see what games work and how well. Although not all titles are supported and some still suffer graphical or audio issues, the emulator continues to evolve with community contributions and experimental support for Vulkan and Direct3D. -
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Proton-GE-Custom
Compatibility tool for Steam Play based on Wine
Proton-GE-Custom is an unofficial compatibility tool for Steam Play that builds on Valve’s Proton and Wine codebases to provide additional patches, fixes, and enhancements for running Windows games on Linux systems through Steam, particularly on Steam Deck and other Linux gaming platforms. Unlike the official Proton builds, this custom fork includes community-developed patches such as media foundation support, raw input improvements, AMD and Nvidia optimizations, and broader compatibility tweaks that help certain games launch and run more reliably or with better performance. It also incorporates a “protonfixes” system that applies per-game adjustments automatically, enabling environment variables or workarounds without manual user intervention. Because it packages its own versions of DXVK, VKD3D, and other components, this tool can resolve glitches or missing features in titles that struggle under standard Proton builds. -
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MAME
MAME is a multi-purpose emulation framework
MAME's purpose is to preserve decades of software history. As electronic technology continues to rush forward, MAME prevents this important "vintage" software from being lost and forgotten. This is achieved by documenting the hardware and how it functions. The source code to MAME serves as this documentation. The fact that the software is usable serves primarily to validate the accuracy of the documentation (how else can you prove that you have recreated the hardware faithfully?). Over time, MAME (originally stood for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) absorbed the sister-project MESS (Multi Emulator Super System), so MAME now documents a wide variety of (mostly vintage) computers, video game consoles and calculators, in addition to the arcade video games that were its initial focus. The MAME project as a whole is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, 2 (GPL-2.0), since it contains code made available under multiple GPL-compatible licenses.
